There are 2 other posts about this but did not find the answer to my question.
I received a phone call today regarding my reservations from FTW to CHI around the middle of January. We have a bedroom round-trip but the agent informed me that we would have to board a bus to Longview and a bus from Longview to FTW on the way back. I would just as soon drive myself rather than ride the bus but an even better idea would be if I could board south of FTW such as Austin or San Antonio. I called Amtrak back to ask about this and was told that this was not possible. We would be getting $120 back as a partial refund for the room but would get no refund for the railfare portion (even if we drive to Longview ourselves!)
So my first question is what happens to the TE when there is a planned track disruption? In this case, would there just be 2 #22's, one for the Longview-CHI portion and one for the San Antonio-FTW portion and vice versa for train 21?
If the answer to the above question is yes, then it looks like our only option is to hop on the train in Longview and that is the end of it. My other theory is that the TE will still travel to Longview, bypassing most of the cities in between. If this is the case, then I should be able to hop on the train somewhere south of FTW right? The agent told me that this was not possible but wanted to ask here since it there is a lot of Amtrak knowledge here. I am very familiar with the Texas portion of the TE and I have noticed that I sometimes know more than the agent on the phone so thought I would ask here to see if there is any way we could stay on the train that is going to Longview from San Antonio. Any knowledge on this is appreciated.
I received a phone call today regarding my reservations from FTW to CHI around the middle of January. We have a bedroom round-trip but the agent informed me that we would have to board a bus to Longview and a bus from Longview to FTW on the way back. I would just as soon drive myself rather than ride the bus but an even better idea would be if I could board south of FTW such as Austin or San Antonio. I called Amtrak back to ask about this and was told that this was not possible. We would be getting $120 back as a partial refund for the room but would get no refund for the railfare portion (even if we drive to Longview ourselves!)
So my first question is what happens to the TE when there is a planned track disruption? In this case, would there just be 2 #22's, one for the Longview-CHI portion and one for the San Antonio-FTW portion and vice versa for train 21?
If the answer to the above question is yes, then it looks like our only option is to hop on the train in Longview and that is the end of it. My other theory is that the TE will still travel to Longview, bypassing most of the cities in between. If this is the case, then I should be able to hop on the train somewhere south of FTW right? The agent told me that this was not possible but wanted to ask here since it there is a lot of Amtrak knowledge here. I am very familiar with the Texas portion of the TE and I have noticed that I sometimes know more than the agent on the phone so thought I would ask here to see if there is any way we could stay on the train that is going to Longview from San Antonio. Any knowledge on this is appreciated.